Kobe Bryant Timeline : 2004 NBA Finals and Lakers' collapse

15 Jun 2004 The 2004 NBA Finals were between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons. Although the Lakers were the heavy favorite, the Pistons won the series four games to one to win their first title since 1990 and their fifth overall (three NBA Championships, two NBL Championships). Piston point guard Chauncey Billups was named the Finals MVP of the series. The series was noted for the perceived underdog, the Pistons, dominating a Laker team that had four future Hall of Famers.

Aftermath : Bryant, a free agent, almost signs with the Clippers but returns to the Lakers after agreeing to a seven-year, $136-million deal. The Lakers' collapse became apparent in the days following the Finals. Head coach Phil Jackson abruptly resigned as head coach. Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat (July 14th, 2004), then Gary Payton was also traded and Karl Malone was left unsigned, then retired. The 2004-05 NBA season was a tough one for the Lakers, winning only 34 games and missed the playoffs for only the fifth time in the team's history. Jackson returned to the Lakers in the offseason; despite writing a book called The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul, in which he voiced disdain for Kobe Bryant by calling him 'uncoachable', he and Bryant would bury the hatchet once the season began. Jackson and Bryant would later produce three more NBA Finals appearances and two more NBA championships in six seasons before Jackson retired at the conclusion of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. Meanwhile, O'Neal, along with Payton and Dwyane Wade of the Heat, won the 2006 championship.